Operating mechanism for sliding doors.



M. GOSSEY. OPERATING MBGHANISM Fon SLIDING Doos.

APPLICATION FILED NDV.27, 1909.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

31m/vento@ attenua/go UNITED sragiwsrrnn'r OFFICE.

MYRON COSSEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK,. ASSIGNOR TO RELIANCE BALL-BEARING DOOR HANGER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR SLIDING DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

Application filed November 27, 1909. Serial No. 530,264.

To all whom it may concern l Be it known that I, MYnoN Cosser, a citizen of the United States, and resident ot' Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements -in Operating Mechanism for Sliding Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to double sliding doors and particularly to mechanism for ellectng simultaneous operation of the doors in opening and closing.

It relates to doors of the general type disclosed in my prior Patents 632,224, August 29, 1899, and 809,781, January 9, 1906. Its objects are to produce a structure which will be durable, etticient and certain in operation, and which can be installed easily without the necessity ot tine adjustment.

The novel features will be apparent from the following description, taken in conneetion with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawiiigs.-Ii`iglire 1 is a front elevation showing the upper part of two doors with my improvements secured thereto; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the doors in open position; and Fig. l is a detail cross section ofthe controlling racks and housing taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. l.

As shown in these drawings, the two door or gate sections 1 and 2 are shown as supported by hangers B and 4 secured to the upper edge thereof. Above the door sections there are trackways 5, 6, which are similarly constructed and which have a length equal to' about that of the width of the door. As disclosed in my prior patents these traclzways have upper and lower grooves to receive the halls or antifriction devices which engage the longitudinally movable liars T and Q. Those liars have upper and lower grooves in which the antifrictiou de-.ires run, and in the particular' form shown l malte use ot' two pairs ot separated ballsy 9, l0 alloro and below each liar runningr in the traclcways. As indicated iu my prior patents these balls serre to maintain the bar rigiflhi in position while permitting its easy movement longitudinally, and the use ot pairs` of halls instead oll .single halls tends to `strengthen and render more rigid thc minet-,tion between the liar and the trat'lnvay. The hangers il, it' arll connected to these hars, and thus' the doors 1 and 2 are supported from the trackways and can be easily moved laterally.

In order to make the two doors move together, so that by pushing one door open or closed, the other door will have a similar movement, I makeuse ot' the improved argears. On the bar 8 Iplace a rack bar 1l having teeth on its upper surface, and this rack liar is secured to the bar 8 throughout substantially its entire length, but may project slightly beyond the end of bar 8 as shown, and it is thus held rigidly and firmly. A rack bar 12 is secured at one end to a `tio rangement of rack bars and interrneshingbracket 13 which is in turn secured to the the trackway 6. These wheels do not mesh` with each other, but each meshes with both racks at certain times, and they are arranged substantially over the rear edge of the door 2 when that door is in closed position. A h'ousing 16 extends over these gears and constitutes part of the bearing for them, and at the saine time constitutes a guideway for the free end of the rack bar 12. The rack har 12 naturally tends to rest upon the gears by gravity, but the hous ing 16 prevents any accidental displacement of that bar and holds it in engagement with the gears. i

It will be observed that when the rack liar lt is in the position occupied when the doors are closed it will atl least be in engagement with one oi the two gears. The saine thing will be true of the rack har 12 when the floors are in open position, so that there will always he at least one ot' the gears in engagement with ,both rack bars, and hy using two gears it is not necessary that. tln position of the gear be adjusted with such linentss as would he net-ossola' where one gear alone was used. The two separated gears furthermore serve to utt-:itly anti lnore etl'eotively prevent :xtfritlentat lit-ruling ot' the free end of the har l2, inaliing the operation smoother and more eticotive. It will be observed that the free end of the bar 12 projects beyond the rear edge and steady, and the construction is durableand is not such as would be likely to get out of order.` y

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with two door o1- ate members movable laterally toward an from each other, of a traekway above said door niembers, a supporting bar connected to each door member and adapted to travel in said trackway, a rack bar having upwardly facing teeth secured to one of said supporting bars throughout substantially its entire length, a rack bar having teeth on its under surface secured to the other supporting bar at one end only and having its free end projecting over and parallel with the first mentioned raelr bar. and two separated gear wheels between and engaging said two rack bars at a point substantially over the rear edge of one of said doors when it is pushed forward to closed position. l

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with two door or gate members movable laterally toward' and` from each other, of a trackway above said door members, a supporting bar connected to each door member and adapted to travel in said trackway, a rack bar having u wardly .facing teeth secured to one of said supporting bars throughout substantially its entire length, a rack bar having teeth on its under surface secured to the other supporting bar at one end only and having its free end projecting over and parallel with the first mentioned rack bar, the length of said projecting portion being about twice the width of a door sect-ion, two separated gear wheels each engaging both of said racks substantially over the rear edge of one of said doors when closed, and a housing for said gears constituting a guide for the free end of said rack.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with two doorl or gate members movable laterally toward and from each other, of an endwise movable bar above each door member, hanger connection between each bar and the door beneath it, trackways having parallel surfaces above and below said movable bars, antifriction devices between said surfaces and bars, a rack bar having upwardly facing teeth secured to one of said movable bars throughout substantially its entire length, downwardlyy facing teeth secured to the other movable bar at one end and havin its freeend projecting above andparalle .with the first mentioned rack bar, and two separated rotatable toothed wheels between and engaging said toothed b ars.

4. In a device of the class described, the

combination with two door orgate members movable laterally toward and .from each other, of a traekway above said door'comprising upper and lower fixed members and an intermediate movable member, hangers supporting said doors from said movable amembers, a rack bar having upwardly facing teeth secured to one of said movable members at the rear along the top, a rack bar havin@ teeth on its under surface secured to tlie other movable member at one end only and having its free end projecting over and parallel with the first mentioned rack bar, two slightly separated gear wheels between and engaging. said two rack bars having a bearing in the side of the upper fixed member, at a point substantially over the rear edge of one of said doors when it is pushed forward to closed position, and a housing constitutingl a guide for the free end of said rack secured to the upper fixed member and extending over said gear wheels and forming a'supporting bearing therefor.

-ln testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MYRON COSSEV lVi tnesses:

JosirJ C. PRATT, Il. B. MCMANUS.

a rack bar having 

